The present disclosure relates generally to three-dimensional (3D) printers, and more specifically to the devices, assemblies and techniques to adaptively form complex composite materials.
Most 3D printers rely on an extruder head to deposit a thin heated bead of material to specified layers to additively form an object. The extruder head moves both horizontally and vertically to guide the placement for each layer of the heated bead of material so that the added material selectively produces a solid object. The properties of the extruded material can significantly affect the speed, precision, and quality of producing a 3D object. As such, the majority of 3D printers limit the extruded material to a single substance. Changing the material at various points of production to form more complex composites, although possible, is not desirable due to the significant time it takes to re-tool the extruder head and make the appropriate adjustments to achieve a high quality composite object. Accordingly, it may be desirable to develop techniques that speed up the process, particularly, an extruder head assembly capable of producing complex composites without re-tooling.